We came across video of a Fox Sports 1 documentary special on UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey this morning that you should definitely carve out some time to watch, if you’re into that sort of thing. “Breaking Ground” combines interviews with Rousey, her family, friends, coaches, and teammates with previously unreleased training footage to reveal a bit more about the young champ than we knew before.
The special details Ronda’s youth, from her early speech-developmental challenges, the sports she competed in before Judo, and her father’s tragic death, to her relocation to Los Angeles and transition into Judo under the tutelage of her world-champion mother. We also get to see that “Baby Ronda” was the same rowdy and “evil” competitor that we know and love now.
As can be expected, there are great, scary quotes aplenty from Ronda as well as her judo-champ mother, Ana Maria Rousey DeMars. Some of our favorites:
“If my mom saw me goofing around or having fun or whatever, she would grab me and she would pull me and sit me in the corner and be like, ‘shut up, sit down and think about winning.'” — Ronda Rousey
“When I was a little kid, when I thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t really think, ‘oh I want to be an accountant,’ or, ‘I want to be a dentist.’ I wanted something extraordinary, something that didn’t exist. I wanted to be a super hero.” — Ronda Rousey
“I’d go up to people at tournaments and go up behind them and just like kick them in the back of the legs and say, ‘bitch, I’m going to break your fucking arm today.'” — Mama Rousey
Watch the video. Then, watch Ronda and Meisha Tate on the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Now We Have Chicks tonight at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
–Elias Cepeda
We came across video of a Fox Sports 1 documentary special on UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey this morning that you should definitely carve out some time to watch, if you’re into that sort of thing. “Breaking Ground” combines interviews with Rousey, her family, friends, coaches, and teammates with previously unreleased training footage to reveal a bit more about the young champ than we knew before.
The special details Ronda’s youth, from her early speech-developmental challenges, the sports she competed in before Judo, and her father’s tragic death, to her relocation to Los Angeles and transition into Judo under the tutelage of her world-champion mother. We also get to see that “Baby Ronda” was the same rowdy and “evil” competitor that we know and love now.
As can be expected, there are great, scary quotes aplenty from Ronda as well as her judo-champ mother, Ana Maria Rousey DeMars. Some of our favorites:
“If my mom saw me goofing around or having fun or whatever, she would grab me and she would pull me and sit me in the corner and be like, ‘shut up, sit down and think about winning.’” — Ronda Rousey
“When I was a little kid, when I thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t really think, ‘oh I want to be an accountant,’ or, ‘I want to be a dentist.’ I wanted something extraordinary, something that didn’t exist. I wanted to be a super hero.” — Ronda Rousey
“I’d go up to people at tournaments and go up behind them and just like kick them in the back of the legs and say, ‘bitch, I’m going to break your fucking arm today.’” — Mama Rousey
Watch the video. Then, watch Ronda and Meisha Tate on the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Now We Have Chicks tonight at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
–Elias Cepeda